Union chief: 'Appalling culture of bullying' at NoW

News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun and formerly the News of the World, has been accused of allowing an "appalling culture of bullying" that "pressured staff to behave appallingly".

Speaking at the Leveson inquiry today, Steve Turner, general secretary of the British Association of Journalists, said that NGN staff were put under "enormous pressure to produce more exciting stories and more revelations".

"There is no doubt that reporters are being put under incredible pressure to obtain stories and it's no wonder that it leads to people cutting corners."

Turner, who was previously general secretary at the NUJ and before that a sub-editor and NUJ rep at the Daily Mirror, also told the inquiry that staff at the publisher's tabloid titles would "have their card marked" if they complained about bullying or other mistreatment alongside a union representative.

He added that while he acted as a union rep he would recommend that NGN staff – who he likened to "wage slaves" – lodge a complaint on their own and "give the impression that they were not supported" by a union in order to "get a better deal".

He also claimed that some staff had been the victim of "phoney complaints" invented by management to pressure them to leave and take a redundancy pay off.

"The individual would get the idea that they wanted them out," Turner told the court.

"They were phoney charges and people got the message that it was time to move on."

"A severance package would be arranged and they would leave."

But Matt Driscoll, a former sports reporter at the News of the World who was represented by Turner at a 2008 employment tribunal, was "much more determined and not willing to be fobbed off", Turner said.

Driscoll won nearly £800,000 in damages from NGN for unfair dismissal in the case. He was sacked by the tabloid in April 2007 after going on leave with depression in June 2006. He told the inquiry yesterday that his depression was the result of his work at the News of the World.

Turner gave several other examples of alleged bullying at tabloid newspapers during his testimony, including titles not published by News International, and called for legislation to make workplace bullying a criminal offence, claiming that the effects could be worse that that of a physical assault.

Asked by Lord Leveson whether it was in fact a change of culture needed, rather than a change in the law, he said that the former was unlikely without intervention.

"A change of culture would be enormously helpful but what we have now is cowboy managements in Fleet Street and I don't see that happening at the moment.

"It's a tremendous pressure on an individual when they are being bullied to do anything about it.

If they go to human resources the reaction, in my experience, is to start accusing the complainant."

Turner called for external, rather than internal mediation of complaints, suggesting that employment dispute resolution service Acas could act as a moderator.

Neither the BAJ or National Union of Journalists are recognised as a union by News International, which only deals with internal staff body the News International Staff Association.

NISA, which began as News International's Human Resources Committee during the union disputes that followed Rupert Murdoch moving the publisher's newspapers to Wapping in the mid-1980s, failed in a 2001 bid for recognition from the certification office for trade unions, which ruled that it was under the control of News International and liable to interference from the company and so did not comply with regulations.

Membership of NISA is free and automatic for all News International staff unless they opt out.

A spokesperson for News International declined to comment on Turner's evidence.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).